"no signal" with some France HD channels (VERY strange problem)

[e-t172]

Hi,

I have a very strange problem with SageTV Media Center. SageTV is running in a HTPC located in France in the Toulouse region, receiving DVB-T (TNT).

In France there are numerous non-HD channels and four HD channels : Arte HD, TF1 HD, France 2 HD and M6 HD.

Here is the problem :

• All the non-HD channels works fine
• Arte HD works fine
• I get "no signal" when I try to watch TF1 HD, France 2 HD or M6 HD

Using my TV's own tuner I have no problem at all.

Here is what I tried to fix the problem:

1. I tried rescanning the channels. No change.
2. I tried re-installing SageTV. No Change.
3. I tried to upgrade SageTV to latest version (previous one was 6.5.9). No change.
4. I tried to put the TV tuner card on another computer and then install SageTV on this computer. No change.
5. I tried to replace the TV tuner card by another one from the same model (Terratec Cinergy 2400i DT). No change.
6. I tried to replace the TV tuner card by a completely different one (Hauppauge NOVA-TD-500 84xxx). No change.
7. I tried to move the HTPC to a friend's house to check if this has something to do with the antenna or reception. Same result at my friend's house.
8. I tried to reinstall Windows, replacing Windows XP Pro 32-bit with Windows 7 Pro 32-bit RTM. No change.

Believe me, I'm really banging my head against the wall right now. Confused? I'm not finished:

• There is no problem at all with another TV software (Cyberlink PowerCinema).
• Most importantly, this problem happened all of a sudden: until the end of April (approximately) it was working just fine, and then for no reason, TF1HD/FR2HD/M6HD just stopped working and never came back. Absolutely NO change was made to the computer nor SageTV around this time.

Here are the conclusions I reached:

• This is not a hardware problem (see 4, 5 and 6)
• This is not an OS problem (see 4 and 8)
• This is not a codec problem (because Arte HD works fine)
• This is not a reception/antenna problem (see 7, and using Powercinema it works)
• This is not some kind of configuration problem (because it was working fine and then suddenly stopped working)

So it is definitely a SageTV problem. This is confirmed by the fact that it works fine in PowerCinema. I suspect that the problem has been triggered by a possible change in the way these three HD channels are being broadcast.

By the way, I noticed something interesting: Arte HD is broadcast on its own physical frequency, however TF1 HD, France 2 HD and M6 HD are all multicast on another shared frequency (the same for the three channels). I suspect that SageTV is for some reason unable to tune in the frequency on which the three problematic channels reside. But why?! And, as if this problem was not strange enough, why does it look like I'm the only one experiencing it?

This is a desperate call for help. Thanks in advance for any useful suggestions.

[StephaneM]

Hello,

Originally Posted by e-t172

I get "no signal" when I try to watch TF1 HD, France 2 HD or M6 HD

This is because those channels are using E-AC3 only for the audio. You'll have to use the new native recording patch (in the beta forums) to be able to (hopefully) tune and view these channels.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[e-t172]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

You'll have to use the new native recording patch (in the beta forums) to be able to (hopefully) tune and view these channels.

Thanks. I followed the instructions here but now all I get is "No signal" with ALL channels...

[e-t172]

Never mind, I just forgot to... plug in the antenna cable...

I plugged in the antenna and... it worked. Everything works!

You have no idea how much I want to thank you. The cause is very simple and yet all the research I did on this problem did not even came close to anything related to the audio format...